How Visuo-Spatial Mental Imagery Develops: Image Generation and Maintenance

• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0142566
• Publication Date: 2015-11-12T20:02:31Z
• Authors: Marina C. Wimmer; Katie L. Maras; Elizabeth J Robinson; Martin J Doherty; Nicolas Pugeault
• Keywords: Adult; Male; Adolescent; Science; Concept Formation; 150; 03 medical and health sciences; Mental Processes; 0302 clinical medicine; Reaction Time; Humans; Child; Analysis of Variance; Q; R; Age Factors; Child, Preschool; Space Perception; Imagination; Visual Perception; Medicine; Female; Photic Stimulation; Psychomotor Performance; Research Article

Two experiments examined the nature of visuo-spatial mental imagery generation and maintenance in 4-, 6-, 8-, 10-year old children and adults (N = 211). The key questions were how image generation and maintenance develop (Experiment 1) and how accurately children and adults coordinate mental and visually perceived images (Experiment 2). Experiment 1 indicated that basic image generation and maintenance abilities are present at 4 years of age but the precision with which images are generated and maintained improves particularly between 4 and 8 years. In addition to increased precision, Experiment 2 demonstrated that generated and maintained mental images become increasingly similar to visually perceived objects. Altogether, findings suggest that for simple tasks demanding image generation and maintenance, children attain adult-like precision younger than previously reported. This research also sheds new light on the ability to coordinate mental images with visual images in children and adults.